Police Chief Magazine|Columns|Traffic Safety Initiatives
Highway Safety Initiatives: IACP Law Enforcement Challenge-Part VII: Program Evaluation

Over the past several months, this column has examined five essential elements of a law enforcement traffic safety program: departmental policy and enforcement guidelines; training; recognition of officers who exhibit exemplary performance; educating the public on the important topics of seat belt, alcohol, and speed laws; and high-visibility enforcement. But for any traffic enforcement program, the evaluation of an agency’s operations and how they are implemented is an additional necessary component for maximizing effectiveness and efficiency.

This last element of a comprehensive law enforcement traffic safety program calls on agencies to examine how effective their efforts have been. This discussion has been guided by the judging criteria for the IACP National Law Enforcement Challenge. (In addition to the content-related judging points, which have been described in detail in this column, there is one other judging point, how well the agency’s application was assembled, which does not require further explanation.)

 

Read More
Traffic Safety Initiatives
Share

Traffic Safety Initiatives: From Robo-Tripping to Counterflipping

New drug trends often appear first in the language people use, long before they reach training manuals....
Traffic Safety Initiatives
Share

Traffic Safety Initiatives: Empty Hands Save Lives

Officers conduct vehicle stops and pedestrian contacts by the thousands over the course of their career. The overwhelming majority of such interactions resolve without incident, and that statistical r...
Traffic Safety Initiatives
Share

Traffic Safety Initiatives: Five Leadership Priorities for Combating Cannabis-Impaired Driving

Impaired driving remains one of the most persistent and consequential public safety challenges facing police leaders in the United States. Preliminary U.S. data indicate that more than 39,000 people w...
Traffic Safety Initiatives
Share

Traffic Safety Initiatives: Starting and Growing An Agency’s DRE Program

With over 8,000 credentialed drug recognition experts (DREs) in the world, many agencies have a well-established DRE program with several DREs in their employ. But there are also many more agencies t...
Traffic Safety Initiatives
Share

Traffic Safety Initiatives: The Alabama Speedball

As it has across the United States, the landscape of impaired driving enforcement in Alabama has shifted dramatically over the past decade. While alcohol and prescription drugs continue to pose subst...
Traffic Safety Initiatives
Share

Traffic Safety Initiatives: Your Report, Their Decision

In impaired driving (also known as driving under the influence or DUI) cases, the courtroom outcome often hinges on a document prepared long before the judge ever considers the matter—the law enforc...
Traffic Safety Initiatives
Share

Traffic Safety Initiatives: Beyond the Manuals

A common question heard in substance-impaired driving classes is, “Why do we do it this way?” Too often, the answer is simply, “Because that’s how we’ve always done it” or “That’s what...
Traffic Safety Initiatives
Share

Traffic Safety Initiatives: The Evolving Challenge of Poly-Drug Impaired Driving

The world of impaired driving isn’t what it used to be. Alcohol is still the old villain, but it’s no longer acting alone. A more complicated, more dangerous player has entered the scene—poly-dr...
Traffic Safety Initiatives
Share

Traffic Safety Initiatives: How to Communicate More Effectively During Traffic Stops

A few years ago, the Colorado State Highway Safety Office identified a recent trend of increased refusal rates of impaired drivers of the required chemical test. While some U.S. states are implied con...
Traffic Safety Initiatives
Share

Traffic Safety Initiatives: From Traffic Stops to Community Impact

According to the 2020 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, self-reported data revealed that 37.3 million individuals (ages 12 years or older) were current illicit drug users in the United States. M...
Show More